Process of making chains.



UNITED STATES'ATE'NT OFFICE.

MAX F ESS LE R, O F-PFORZHEIM, GERMANY.

,1 'PBCCESSOF MAKING CHAINS.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14,1908.

Application i led July 8. 1907. Serial No. 382.790.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, MAX FEssLER, a subect of the German Emperor, residing at Pforzheim, Baden, German Empire, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Chains, of which the following is a specification.

My-invention relates to the manufacture of wire chains, and more particularly ,of ornamental chains for personal wear.

; In makin such chains from solid-wire, it

is, as is wel known, extremely troublesome to apply the small pieces ofsolder t0 the parts of the links to be united. To overcome this inconvenience a method-has been devised of employing 'so-called self-soldering or .cored wire, that is to say, hollow wire containing..a" core of ordinary silver-solder.

The links made of such wire, after being wetted with a suitable soldering fluid, are heated I to the fusin point of the solder core. The latter thus. ecomes fluid, flows out of the hollow wire and metallically unites the two 'adjacent ends of the link. 'Thus what is here done is simply tornake use of the wellknown property of heated solder, e. g. silver solder,-to run,'whereby the ends of the link are'unit'ed or shirt.

ever, is attended with serious disadvantages. For on the molten or'liquidsolder flowing out of the wire, not only is the interstice between the two ends of the link, that is, the joint, filled with solder, but the latter runs over a portion of the surface of-the link, so that the part is thickened, rendering subsequent trimming up necessary. A further inconvenience of this overflow of solder over the link surface is that the links, especially when a chain is being soldered link by link in, succession, very frequently adheres, that is to say, they get soldered one to the other, so that the chain is rendered rigid. The high price of the, cored wire-due to the percentage of silver in the core-is also a drawback, especially in the manufacture of cheap jewelry. In view of all this the new method has not met with much favor in practice.

The purpose of my invention is to obviate the inconveniences above referred to, and this I do by taking advantage of the property of certain solders to make a joint even' when they are only in a soft condition, that is, at a temperature which is considerably This method, howbelow the melting point of the solder in question.

It is well known that all solders prior to becoming actually fluid, grow soft, that is are converted into'apa'sty, plastic condition. This change in form occurs at the so-c'alled softening point, which is naturally always below the actual melting point. In this lastic condition certain solders possess a property not hitherto remarked, viz. that of uniting joints at the temperature in question. It IS obvious that if such a solder is employed as core for a hollow wire, for instance in making ornamental chains, all the disadvantages attending the use ofordinary cored wire are the surface of the links, however, getting smeared with solder. The procedure involved is'obviously, that the ends of the core,

caused to protrude by the heat, after mutually flattening each other, weld together and thus effectively shut the joint in .the link.

A solder fully answering the requirements in question-and being at the same time X- tremely cheap, is, so-called .bla'ck brass, already well known as a flowing solder. .If, for instance, for ornamental chains a wire having a black brass core is employed, the link ends can be shut at a temperature nearly 100 degreescentigrade below the melting point of the said solder. When such acored wire is employed, the soldering of the links can proceed perfectly mechanically, without therebeingany "danger of troubles arising such as is the case when ordinary cored wire is used. There is also the additional advantage, that since solder containing no silver may be used,great economy can be effected, a matter of much importance especially in the manufacture of cheap ornamental chains. Having thus described my'invention, I claim as new The process of soldering wire chain links,

consisting in heating wire having a solder core which willu'nite surfaces even when it is I In testimony hereof I affix my signature only'at, softening point, and in steppin the l in presence of two Witnesses. heating when the core is plastic but stifi be- M FES'QLFR low its melting point, whereby the core ends 5 are causedto protrude and unite, and after WVitnesses:

mutually flattening each other to shut the FRANZ ANTON HUBLUGH,

entire joint, substantially as described. R. WADHAMS FISHER. 

